Purple Travel

[October 2 2013]

A visit to the Narenjestan Palace and Gardens in Shiraz

A city known for its heritage of wine, poetry and generally bohemian outlook on life, Shiraz in Southern Iran is the setting of the Narenjestan Palace and Gardens. Taking its name from a species of Persian orange found growing across the garden amongst tulips and date palms, the palace was built in the late 19th Century by a wealthy merchant family – a time in which upper classes of the country experimented with blending Persian decorative traditions such as mosaic mirrored tiles with ancient Zoroastrian iconography, and Victorian era embellishments. Photo & text Xerxes Cook